a preacher looks at forty, fifty, and beyond . . .

Love Came Down at Christmas

I am going to make a dangerous assumption. I am going to assume that just about everybody has seen and likes the show How the Grinch Stole Christmas. If I am wrong, please just pretend you have seen it and like it.

Do you remember the opening lines? “Every who down in Who-ville liked Christmas a lot, but the Grinch who lived just north of Who-ville did not.” That line sets up the entire show. The Grinch hates the celebrations, hates the singing, hates the presents, and hates the whole thing. So, he devises a plan to slip down into the town in the night, bag up all the trappings of Christmas, take all the presents, and ruin Christmas.

And he does. And the next morning he stands on his mountain waiting for the people to wake up and be devastated. But instead, he hears singing. The Whos wake up singing; it doesn’t matter to them that they didn’t have trees or presents or decorations. And it turns out that no matter what he tried to take away from them, Christmas came anyway. And it stuns him. And he says to himself, “Maybe Christmas doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.”

When the Grinch saw the love that the Whos had, his heart grew three sizes that day. And that is when he finally understood Christmas. He understood that Christmas wasn’t about the gifts, the food or the parties. It is about the Love That Came Down and that this love is something that cannot be taken away.

It was that love that changed the world that first Christmas. It is that love that can change you. It is that love that can change the world once again…

“Love begins at home and it is not how much we do but how much love we put in that action.”